LatinNews Daily Report - 20 December 2012

POLITICS & SECURITY| ‘Artemio’ trial begins in Peru.  On 19 December the trial against ‘Camarada Artemio’(Eleuterio Flores Hala), the recently captured Sendero Luminoso (SL) insurgent group leader in the Upper Huallaga Valley, began in Lima. Artemio faces charges of terrorism, drug-trafficking and money laundering for which the lead prosecutor, Luis Landa, is calling for a life imprisonment sentence. The case will be highly politically charged as Artemio‘s lawyer, Mauro Paico, has rejected the accusations, arguing that his client is not a terrorist or part of a criminal organisation but a member of a political group that has been engaged in an armed conflict with the Peruvian government. In addition and more intriguingly, Landa has also called on two prominent politicians linked to the ruling Gana Perú coalition to act as witnesses in the case: former congresswoman, Nancy Obregón (2006-2011), and Peru’s former representative at the Andean Parliament, Elsa Malpartida. Landa suspects that the two leftist politicians, who also have links local coca producers associations, were at one point Artemio’s drug-trafficking contacts.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 171 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial